This holiday season, skip the tie and go straight for what the tech-savvy family member really wants: cool gadgets.

Altec Lansing Octiv Duo iPhone dock

Altec Lansing Octiv Duo iPhone dock

Price: $100

It's the little design touches that make us love this iPhone speaker dock. Two side-by-side docking stations allow for simultaneous charging, the remote control magnetically attaches to the back of the dock to keep it from getting lost, and a wedge-like design allows the whole thing to fit nicely into table and counter corners (why didn't we think of that?). And then there's the free accompanying mobile app, which lets the machine pull shuffle songs from two docked devices—and lets you pick what percentage of songs pop up from each.

Apple TV

Apple TV

Price: $99

The Apple TV reboot may have you thinking twice about your cable subscription: 99 cent a-la-carte TV show rentals? Check. Access to Netflix's endless catalogue of streaming shows and movies? You bet. Wirelessly stream music, movies and photos from iTunes? What more do you need?